Certified Professional Organizer, Julie Riber, helps you organize all aspects of your life.

Wednesday, August 31, 2016

3 Tips For Organized Back To School Schedule

For many, August or September begins the start of the new school
year. There are last vacations to take,
family reunions to attend, cookouts to go to, and fairs to visit.

Most of us dread of school starting again because it
means a much more scheduled day and more tasks to be completed each day. There are children to wake up, lunches to be
made, decisions on what to wear, breakfasts to prepare, papers to fill out and
buses to catch. The mornings can get
stressful quickly. The evenings can be
hectic too with homework and sports.

To make sure all is accomplished and everyone makes it
to their place on time with everything they need, a routine must be started and
maintained. This is the first tip for an
organized return to school. Make a list
of everything that will be different as school starts. This might include wake up times, lunches to
be made, buses to catch, car pools to be scheduled, bedtime schedule, and
homework times.

The second tip is to decide when each of the tasks on
the list will be completed. Can some be
completed the night before? Making
lunches the night before is the easiest item to move from morning to
night. For younger children, clothes can
be laid out the night before. There
should be an area for book bags, coats and shoes, so the morning is not taken
up by looking for all these items.

The third tip is to use lists. Younger children do well with lists and begin
to understand the importance of a schedule and completing tasks. Make the list fun by adding artwork or large
check boxes. For older kids, maybe try
texting it to them. After a few weeks of
the start of school, the lists can be used for chores instead of the daily
routine as that will have become a habit by then.